Crosby was really dominating again tonight. Had a goal and an assist but could have had a 4 point night easy. He is now at 39 and has drawn to within 3 points of Hossa for the league lead. If he didnt miss 3 games with that groin injury, he would be the league leader right now in points, no doubt. If he doesnt miss any more time this season, I'd say, given his PPG average advantage over his rivals, he has to be the favorite for the Art Ross. He'll prolly overtake Hossa in about a week or two tops and will be atop the chart for the rest of the year. I really want him to win that Art Ross.

Malkin also was huge tonight, with a goal and 2 assists after getting called out (sorta) by Coach Therrien.

Crosby was really dominating again tonight. Had a goal and an assist but could have had a 4 point night easy. He is now at 39 and has drawn to within 3 points of Hossa for the league lead. If he didnt miss 3 games with that groin injury, he would be the league leader right now in points, no doubt. If he doesnt miss any more time this season, I'd say, given his PPG average advantage over his rivals, he has to be the favorite for the Art Ross. He'll prolly overtake Hossa in about a week or two tops and will be atop the chart for the rest of the year. I really want him to win that Art Ross.

Malkin also was huge tonight, with a goal and 2 assists after getting called out (sorta) by Coach Therrien.

Did you see that list i posted on the 3.0 thread, sid gets a point every 13.5 minutes which is second in the league.

"We were hopeful that this was going to come to a conclusion any day," Sawyer said. "All we know is that he and the league couldn't come to an agreement and he chose to give us a notice.
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* Penguins News Conference

"The price and the terms, there was no problem there."

Representatives for both Balsillie and the NHL refused to comment on Balsillie's withdrawal, but sources tell TSN the deal started to fall apart a week ago today, when the $175 million transaction was supposed to officially close.

Sources say the NHL introduced a lengthy list of terms and conditions on the closing day that Balsillie would have to agree to if he were going to be approved as the new owner of the team. The sources added that those conditions included keeping the franchise in Pittsburgh under any circumstances and also provided for a scenario where the league could take control the franchise if it deemed it necessary.

In any case, it seems clear Balsillie was not prepared to meet those terms and conditions. He and the league apparently have been negotiating for the past week trying to find some common ground that would permit the transaction to take place, but sources say Balsillie grew weary of the process and served notice to the league he was terminating his offer to purchase.

Sources suggest the door isn't closed to Balsillie resurrecting his interest but only if the conditions of ownership are amenable to him. The NHL, though, appears intent on getting some firm commitment that the Penguins will not be leaving Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, the news obviously comes as great disappointment to Penguins' owner Mario Lemieux. Lemieux issued the following statement:

''Jim Balsillie delivered a notice of termination today, and it is our understanding that he has stopped negotiating with the National Hockey League to get the necessary consent to buy the Pittsburgh Penguins,'' Lemieux said.

''While these developments create significant uncertainty, the Penguins organization will re-evaluate our situation after the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board makes the decision on the awarding of the Pittsburgh gaming license.

''What is clear is the best way to assure that the team remains viable and in Pittsburgh is to award the gaming license to the Isle of Capri.''

A decision on a slots license application is to be made Dec. 20. If the license is awarded to the Isle of Capri group, which has an agreement with the Penguins to get a new arena built for the NHL team, the future of the franchise in Pittsburgh appears to be secure.

But if the slots license were granted to a group other than Isle of Capri, there is no guarantee the Penguins would be able to stay in Pittsburgh.

It is difficult to know how to spin what has happened here since neither side – Balsillie or the NHL – are talking. The best we can do is to speculate.

The NHL might be inclined to say its desire to include assurances the Pens stay in Pittsburgh, and Balsillie's subsequent refusal to grant those assurances, shows that Balsillie was strongly considering the possibility of relocating the franchise, perhaps to southern Ontario, where the headquarters of his RIM corporation are located. The NHL could maintain it was championing the cause of NHL hockey in Pittsburgh and protecting the Penguins.

Balsillie might be inclined to say the NHL blindsided him and the Penguins' Lemieux-led ownership group with a series of last-minute demands that would leave his $175 million investment greatly compromised and that he could never invest that sum and have his hands tied as tightly as the NHL was insisting.

Now? Who knows?

The first hint that something might be awry came earlier this week when a fax vote by the NHL board of governors was supposed to have been completed. Whether it was or not, we don't know. But the expectation was, initially anyway, that the approval would be swift and unanimous and could have been announced as early as Monday of this week.

Sources told TSN that the board approval might be withheld until after the Dec. 20 announcement on the slots license in Pittsburgh, that if the Isle of Capri received the license and the arena plans were going ahead then Balsillie would get board approval. But that if Isle of Capri didn't get the license, and the Pens' arena future was uncertain, there would have to be assurances from Balsillie to keep the team in Pittsburgh before league approval was granted.

As it turned out, those demands were made last week when the deal was supposed to close on Dec. 8.

The Penguins are expected to hold a news conference during the first intermission of their game against the New York Islanders in Pittsburgh.

Well...Josh...that definitely sucked....but I'd gladly trade that game for good news tomorrow....possibly the most important day in our franchise's history. That said, we obviously do not have reason to be optimistic with how corrupt this process has been, but I am praying for a miracle.

It was nice to see the crowd chanting "ISLE...OF...CAPRI....ISLE...OF...CAPRI".

I'm going to be so pissed off tomorrow when we get hosed by that stupid board.

You know - how is it when a company - states they will pay for it - if they get a slots license - gets turned down - so the tax payers have to eat the arena - is insanity - insanity - yeah they get a license - but they would kick out $300mil for a damn areana -

Luc Robitaille better schedule some tee times with Mario since he is essentially in charge of getting a hockey team to KC since the Kings are owned by AEG corp. which owns the new Sprint Arena in KC. Honestly I would hope the team goes elsewhere like Portland, Winnepeg, Hartford etc but not KC. Unfortunately I really don't see how Pitt doesn't move to KC since the new sprint building is going to be ready in early october and there will be a new team name.

Calm down, he's just trying to create leverage before they sit down with Onorato and Ravenstahl. They are trying primarily to get the yearly contribution figure on their end down from what it is at in the current Plan B.

This is all gamesmanship. They need some leverage to get a sweeter Plan B...plus Onorato is up for re-election next year.

EDIT: Crosby taps in the game tying goal with 15 seconds left. We pick up a point on the road, heading to OT vs. ATL. Sid with 1 G and 1 A.